Director of Maternity & Neonatal Services

Job overview

We are looking for a Director of Maternity & Neonatal Services who believes in compassionate care, who listens deeply, and who leads with purpose. This is your opportunity to guide our teams as they support families through some of the most important moments of their lives. As Director, you will take responsibility for the strategic, operational, and clinical leadership of our maternity and neonatal portfolio.

We are seeking an exceptional, forward‑thinking leader to shape the future of our Maternity & Neonatal Services. This is a pivotal role for an experienced senior clinician with a passion for delivering outstanding, safe, and compassionate care for women, birthing people, babies, and families.

We are looking for someone who:

• Has substantial senior leadership experience within maternity, neonatal, or acute clinical services
• Brings a strong track record of improving quality, safety, and outcomes
• Can inspire teams through compassionate and visible leadership
• Thrives in complex environments and can drive strategic change
• Is committed to equity, personalised care, and co‑production with service users

If you are a leader who brings authenticity, courage, and a deep commitment to improving maternity and neonatal care, we would love to hear from you.

Main duties of the job

In this role, you will nurture a culture where safety, kindness, and respect are at the heart of everything we do. You will champion staff wellbeing, strengthen multidisciplinary collaboration, and ensure that every voice — from midwives to neonatal nurses and medical staff to service users — is heard and valued.

As Director, you will provide strategic leadership across maternity, neonatal, and perinatal pathways, ensuring our services meet the highest standards of quality, safety, and experience. You will lead a talented multidisciplinary workforce, drive continuous improvement, and champion a culture where staff feel valued, supported, and empowered.

You will also play a key role in shaping our long‑term vision, ensuring our services are inclusive, personalised, and responsive to the diverse communities we serve. You will work at Board level, influencing organisational strategy and ensuring maternity and neonatal care remains a top priority.

You will also collaborate with regional networks, national bodies, and service‑user groups to deliver system‑wide improvements. This role demands ambition, resilience, and a proven ability to deliver results in complex environments. In return, you will have the opportunity to shape a service that is safe, modern, and truly world‑class.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Provide expert professional advice and support to the Chief Nurse, the Trust Board and midwives across UHD, leading and providing strategic oversight for Maternity & Neonatal Services, acting as an exemplary role model for the profession both internally and externally, championing a professional and open culture

To promote an operating framework across the Trust that supports compassion, communication, teamwork, respect, professionalism and inclusion in accordance with the values and behaviours expected by the Trust

To ensure inclusion, diversity and equality for all our people and that we foster effective working relationships based on our values

To lead, motivate and develop their own team to ensure that they are able to deliver the new responsibilities of the Trust/ICB for Dorset

Promote a culture of openness that encourages speaking up and learning from excellence as well as incidents, to continually drive a safe service

Have a key role in influencing strategic direction for the development of Maternity & Neonatal Services within the ICB through working with strategic partners

Be highly visible, approachable and available to respond to mothers, people, relatives and the public

To ensure that the NHS People Strategy and NHS Long Term Plan is delivered across the Trust providing strategic leadership to support implementation

Will work closely with the maternity voices partnership to develop and co-produce services

Lead the quality assurance and risk management process within the Maternity and Neonatal Directorate; designing and implementing structures to ensure compliance with policy through audit and ensuring there are robust governance structures for the prevention and management of complaints, clinical incidents and serious untoward incidents.

Act locally as a maternity safety champion to inform and provide assurance to Board level champions about matters of concern and quality improvement in the maternity service